Much attention has been given in recent years to the purification of waste waters containing environmentally damaging pollutants such as heavy metals and organic compounds such as found in petroleum wastes. In order to return such waste waters into the environment it is necessary to remove the pollutants in order to reduce environmental contamination. Acceptable methods of treatment include procedures which not only reduce the pollutant level of the treated waters to an environmentally acceptable standard but also to provide a means of disposing of the removed pollutant materials in a manner which would not of itself thereafter contaminate the environment.
Many procedures are known, however, the most efficient of these procedures involve the use of expensive, substantially continuous plant installations. A need therefore exists for procedures involving relatively inexpensive treatment compositions which can be adapted not only for continuous use but for batch use as well. Ideally such material should yield a product which is relatively easily dewaterable and which has very low environmental leach characteristics.
The current standards for non-hazardous solid waste in drinking water are found in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publication: EPSW 846 "Test Methods for Evaluating such Wastes" Section 7: Extraction procedure, Toxicity Section 7.1-3; Structural Integrity procedure Section 7.1-8.